Sen. Bernie Sanders employed a rarely used procedural tool Wednesday to delay the Senate Finance committee’s action on the fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership bill.
Channeling Senate Democratic anger and frustration as the Committee was set to approve the measure, the move came minutes before the Finance session was set to start and after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell went to the Senate floor to make a routine unanimous request agreement for the committee to convene while the Senate is in session.
Required by the arcane rules of the Senate, such requests for committees to meet are made almost every day the Senate is in session. Sanders has been railing on the issue, a longtime vocal critic of trade agreements saying they do not protect the American worker.
“I object to the unanimous consent agreement to waive Rule 26 to allow the Finance Committee to pass a fast track bill that will undermine the American worker,” the Independent from Vermont said after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sought a routine request, made almost every day the Senate is working, for committees to meet while the Senate is in session.
Because so much of the Senate’s daily business is conducted by unanimous agreement — such as in this case — it means any one senator can gum up the works easily, if they choose. But it doesn’t happen often.
“Not only is there massive opposition to this TPP agreement. But there is a lot of concern that the American people have not been involved in the process,” said Sanders, who is considering a 2016 presidential run. “That there is not a lot of transparency. So what we are trying to do here is make sure that this debate takes place out in the public, that the American people have as much time as possible to understand the very significant ramifications of this trade agreement. I, and I suspect others, will do our best to make that happen.”
McConnell told Sanders he understood Sanders’ “vigorous opposition” to the trade bill but promised the procedural maneuver would not prevent the Finance Committee from completing the bill before the end of the day.
“This Finance Committee meeting obviously will be open to the public. There will be many, many amendments offered, most of them I suspect reflecting the views of the senator from Vermont. But the meeting will go forward, the committee will simply be inconvenienced by the current actions,” McConnell said. “The committee will meet at the earliest possible time and finish up the bill today.”
McConnell said the committee session would resume after floor votes on an anti-human trafficking bill late in the afternoon and the Senate recesses.
The Finance Committee is considering a bill that would make it easier and faster for Congress to approve large trade bills like the TPP by allowing Congress to only vote up or down on any agreement but not amend it. Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, and others on the left argue these large trade deals hurt American workers and the environment. The bill divides Democrats, and it is supported by President Barack Obama.